(two CVs are due upgrades, though perhaps they are too big for Melbourne???)

You might want to consider Capetown. Even if you can get one refit you don't have the space for 2. Capetown should be big enough for everything and is probably closer (and safer) than the West Coast. Might be closer to the their next destination too.

6/25/42 A fairly quiet day in which the only significant item is a SigInt report that makes me wonder if part of the KB has just passed Tulagi while steaming SW. In light of the quiet, a strategic overview is in order:

Pour Over Aggression: I've been keeping up with recent events in John's other game. He's enthused and victorious to such an extent that his enthusiasm will pour over into this game, I believe. He's also been reacting in this game for nearlyy the entire month, so he'll want to strike somewhere hard - of that I'm pretty certain. (I hadn't read John's other AAR until he brought it forward several weeks ago; I'm glad I didn't, for it would have influenced how I played the game, quite possibly in a negative way given his successes in Australia.)

SEAC: By now John has probably surmised that he cannot take control of the deteriorating situation in Burma and at Ramree Island based upon the assets at hand. He's got to bring carriers or give up the fight. To fight, he's got to bring more than I have, and he has to allow for the possibility I might move more CVs to theater. He's not moving with alacrity, but at some point I think this is going to become paramount for him. Until then, I wonder if he is going to lose many more aircraft and surface ships trying stopgap measures. This is his Achillee's heel.

China: The Chinese have stopped the Japanese advance cold. Chengte and Kweilin anchor the two flanks, with the Chinese establishing good postions to each side and in between. I'm still not sure whether John is observing his self-declared cease fire (his conduct at Chengte suggests not), but I am sure that it wouldn't have mattered. The Chinese are in pretty good shape.

NoPac: Japan can make some progress here by taking forward bases like Dutch Harbor and Akutan. I really hope the strong forward bases leaves John vulnerable to the rear. This is an area the Allies can hit hard under acceptable risk and accomplish things that have a strategic effect on the game.

CenPac: The Japanese have restored order here. The Gilberts are theirs for the re-taking. But each day means Japan is committing assets that might have been used elsewhere.

SoPac: The Japanese clearly have designs on Luganville, but I don't think John intends to come any further. It's not significant to the Allies if they do.

Australia: Allied infrastructure (airfields), troop levels, and aircraft numbers are in such good shape that I don't think there's a legit risk that John could make a major move on either coast. I think there's a decent chance the KB will return to this theater so that John can apply some of his excess aggression. If he sends carriers here rather than to Bay of Bengal, each such day is an Allied victory.

6/26/42Georgia Water Wars: Desicat, I haven't clicked on that link yet, but I'm sure it refers to the so-called "Georgia/Tennessee Water War." I'm familiar with that controversy, both from a historical standpoing and as a current event. Georgia has an archaic claim that it's north border should have been a couple of miles further north, which would have given it access to the water of the Tennessee River. I think, after 200 years, some kind of adverse possession will have accrued. I also think we need to pay attention to the "carrying capacity" of our land. When we don't have enough water to satsify a region's population given its rivers, isn't that nature's way of telling us to spread out and build elsewhere? I think so.

CenPac: Part of KB is at Jaluit. I think the carriers may have been split up with some sent to Oz. Not sure yet.

Oz: American CVs about four days out of Melbourne.

India: The Allies have 1750 of the 1900+ PPs needed to buy 41st USA Div. (oh, now I wish I hadn't spent 500 to buy 6th Aussie Cav. a couple of weeks back....). July 4, 1942, a date all Allied players loathe because the AVG is due for withdrawal, is looming. I'll withdraw the squadrons a day early to gain about 80 PP.

NoPac: Buying 41st Div. will empty my PP bank. Many, many of my future NoPac invasion units are restricted, so it's going to take some time and a calculator to figure out how long it will take to buy what I need. Since I also need some PP to buy additional Indian units for Burma, I've got to do some thinking and prioritizing. Burma's more important, but might I have enough there? How many units do I need to hold back in India to keep a reasonable reserve/garrison? And just how much would an effective invasion of the western Kuriles mean to the Allies (or how much would it bother John?). All these questions must be mulled over.

It wouldn't surprise me if there was a carrier raid on the eastern coast of Australia. He has to think that a lot of naval power will be concentrated there after withdrawing from western Australia operations. He might want to use the KB to go hunting.

He's going to raid, but he's going to be very, very careful in approaching any big airfields. John's carrier air got whacked badly over Perth back in March. He knows the Allies have alot of fighters with good experience in Oz. He wants to raid. He will raid. But he'll have to poosiefoot it a bit. (I used a creative spelling of possiefoot 'cause I don't think the forum will allow me to use the actual spelling.)

I mentioned to John that I think we got more precipitation by rain and snow here in NE Tenn than he did in northern Colorado this winter. I think he mentioned some fear of a drought condition in his state. The Colorado River is not big enough to support all those people in the SW.

John will send out surface and some CV TF to try to sink transports. Unless they are APA or AKAs, you get too many to make a difference.

Invasion Ships: Losses of "valuable" amphibious ships in the three recent Allied invasions (Gilberts, Ramree, Exmouth) were very light - one AK sunk and one AP damaged. I'm busy again shifting transports around to make sure I have enough capacity to handle the NoPac operations.

Bay of Bengal: The fast transport shuttle of two infantry units from Calcutta to Ramree Island begins tonight. A TF carrying most of 63rd Indian Brigade goes in tonight. A TF carrying part of 147th USA RCT goes in tomorrow night. The engineering work at Ramree is going agonizingly slowly. Despite two units (okay, they aren't great ones), the airfield is just 82% to level one. Forts stand at 2.1.

China: Looking good.

Pacific: It still looks like a Half KB is stationed at Jaluit. It's possible that the Japanese are moving on Akutan (or the inbound transports could be carrying stuff to Umnak Island).

New Zealand: Subs still all around these islands. There is only one rational explanation for this prolonged and intense interest - a future invasion. But that would simply be nutty, so I'm erring on the side of assuming John isn't going to commit a form of early-in-the-game seppuku.

Australia: The four USN carriers are 17 hexes from Melbourne and a much needed rest.

Yeah, I did a bit of probate work, but I was far, far, far from being an expert. However, I do know what a Pour Over Trust is. :)

Re: New Zealand. The sub attention that has long exceeded "this is a feint" duration. And the location of the subs (mainly very close to Wellington) indicated he wasn't trying to monitor for passage of American carriers - unless he thinks I would use the Wellington passage instead of the map border south of the south island. It's very strange. Why post them there rather than all around Tasmania and Melbourne, where he knows I've got lots of shipping?

Yeah, I did a bit of probate work, but I was far, far, far from being an expert. However, I do know what a Pour Over Trust is. :)

Re: New Zealand. The sub attention that has long exceeded "this is a feint" duration. And the location of the subs (mainly very close to Wellington) indicated he wasn't trying to monitor for passage of American carriers - unless he thinks I would use the Wellington passage instead of the map border south of the south island. It's very strange. Why post them there rather than all around Tasmania and Melbourne, where he knows I've got lots of shipping?

About a week ago you also used "instanter", a word one doesn't see a lot outside motions practice, civil warrants, and court orders. You can take the lawyer out of the law . . .

A sub or two might be worth investing to watch for aberrant passage and to guard the southern channels, but I'd sure have them block E-W transit to Melbourne before I saturated NZ.

New Zealand: Subs still all around these islands. There is only one rational explanation for this prolonged and intense interest - a future invasion. But that would simply be nutty, so I'm erring on the side of assuming John isn't going to commit a form of early-in-the-game seppuku.

Not exactly a rational explanation, but Noumea seems to be of great importantance to John because he thinks that it is important to you. He probably expects you to invade Noumea from NZ in the near future and placed the subs there as some kind of tripwire to warn him in time to counter any invasion attempts. Just guessing...

Btw., when it comes to sub warfare, your performance seems to be sub (your own) standard even if you don't like to place much effort in your sub fleet. The waters around NW Oz should be happy hunting grounds for your subs. Just set some patrol areas there with Perth as sub homeport and wait.

I think I've done better with my subs this game than in any other I've played, though I am getting the usual profusion of duds.

Right now, my subs are stretched to the limit. I have concentrations in the Bay of Bengal, Aleutians, Gilberts, Truk, and Solomons. A bunch of subs have recently been converted to transport use to supply Akutan and Tarawa. I don't have much left over to send elsewhere.

Res ipsa loquitur is latin for "it speaks for itself." It's applied in situations where an event - merely by virtue of its occurrence - proves negligence. Thus, the plaintiff need need not prove the cause of the harm suffered was by virtue of neglect, which saves them the trouble of introducing evidence about a standard of care.

In my 19 years of lawyering, I never encountered a case in which the doctrine of res ipsa loquitor was applied. I think a case where a surgeon leaves a sponge or scissors inside a patient - or amputates the wrong limb - might be an appropriate case.

In AE, there's lots of res ipsa situations: Trying to invade an atoll with ships set to transport rather than amphibious; sailing your carriers into hostile waters with all aircraft set to train; leaving big TFs far out at sea with insufficient fuel to make it home. We are all guilty.

What about accidentally unloading a TF anywhere except where you wanted it? Would that be a Res ipsa...whatever? Or would it be a "Boy, I'm gonna cut me a switch!" moment? The latter is one of my wife's family's favorite expressions as an antecedent to corporal punishment.

6/28/42 At the moment, John and I are fighting two very different wars, reflecting two different philosophies about how to wage this war.

John's War: Major IJN bombardments of Dutch Harbor (Mutsu, Nagato, Yamato), Tarawa (four CAs), and Luganville (Hyuga, Ise). John is landing troops at Dutch Harbor. The Allies aren't contesting these moves because each place is "too hot" to take chances. I'm outgunned and the enemy controls the air. This is okay by me, because none of these places are strategically significant.

Dan's War: Part of 63rd Indian Brigade lands at Ramree Island, bringing the total AV to 274. More to come tonight. No opposition by the enemy, either because John doesn't realize the place is strategically important or because he's outgunned and doesn't control the air. He's got to change that.

NoPac: The Japanese are landing at Dutch Harbor and should take it tomorrow. Akutan's garrison has nearly full supply. I'm hoping that as John inches forward and continues to build his big bases at Umnak and Adak, it won't occur to him to attend to his bases far to the rear.

CenPac: No sign of the KB today, but probably still close by. Lots of enemy activity, so I'm not chancing sending in supply by ship.

SoPac: SigInt that 2nd IJA Div. is prepping for Luganville. So John's gonna try again once his troops are ready. Still lots of sub activity around NZ.

Oz: My carriers are a day or two out of Melbourne. My hope is that John doesn't catch wind of them. If he doesn't, he has to allow for the possibility that they've gone to the Bay of Bengal.

India: I should be able to buy 41st USA Div. at Capetown in three days.

6/29/42NoPac: Continued IJ landings at Dutch Harbor, but no attack yet.

CenPac: Half KB is well to the east of Tarawa, looking for shipping.

SWPac: USN CV TF will reach Melbourne tomorrow. York with 14 SYS damage, Lex with 10, and Portland with 20 are especially in need of time. Carrier will also fill out some F4F squadrons and swap out one or two Devastator squadrons for Avengers.

India: Part of 147th RCT lands at Ramree, boosting AV to 314. The rest should arrive in two days. This should be enough to secure the island long term. When 41st Div. arrives in India in four weeks or so, I may send the unit in at Akyab - or possibly Ramree - to take position on the coastal road.

The RAF is notably absent from my top pilots list. In fact, the highest-ranking RAF pilots are in 96th and 97th places, with two kills each. I have six Canadian, six Australian and one Dutch pilot with more kills. The reason is simple - Canadian Kittyhawks ambushed a big IJ raid over Cold Bay a few days back, and Aussie Kittyhawks chewed up several IJ raids over Perth a few months back. The RAF is present at some forward bases in India, but thus far the P-40Es have been the workhorse in that theater.

The AVG will be retiring in three days. Pappy Boyington only has two kills to date. Cooper-Slipper, made famous in GreyJoy's first game, doesn't even seem to be present in my pilot roster. Perhaps John, the architect of this Mod, did some creative editing.

One final note: The Allies have been winning the air war, currently enjoying a lead of 1,200 in aircraft downed.

In the game to date, my use of fighters has been almost entirely defensive. I haven't flow a single sweep. My carrier fighters haven't escorted a single mission against a target covered by more than nominal CAP. In other words, nearly all fighting has been done over my carriers or over my airfields. Allied aircraft, including the P-39, can be used effectively under those conditions. I love the P-40E!

Girls keep asking my oldest son to various proms, which puts me to shame since I never attended a prom during my years in high school. I was far too shy back in the day.

Anyhow, I called my 89-year-old dad today to find out if he'd ever been to the prom. He had, the rascal, and here are the World War II-flavored details:

Dad went to his Senior Prom (Miami High School) in 1942. He took a classmate named Ladonna. His stepmother, Ann, made her a bouquet of gardenias grown at their house. He wore a white dinner jacket and drove his 1936 Ford Coupe. The prom was at Miami’s Biltmore Hotel, which was quite a place in those days. Dad says that 50 of the men in his class had already joined the military in the aftermath of Pearl Harbor (I’m unclear whether these 50 were already gone into the service or had signed up and would be departing after graduation).

At the time of Pearl Harbor, dad was in the hospital after having his appendix out. He joined the Army in 1943. He did some basic training in the Chicago area, I think, before joining the OSS. Most of his OSS training was in northern Virginia. He spent alot of cold winter days traversing various Civil War battlefields while in training. (When he left the Army after the war, he swore he'd never spend any more time where it was cold - a vow he's kept.)

One final note: The Allies have been winning the air war, currently enjoying a lead of 1,200 in aircraft downed.

I am still not convinced that aircraft shot down is a linking construct to a higher short term or long term outcome. Aircraft shotdown is clearly a metric in this game but to what end does a 1K advantage lead to victory? In my limited experience this this game I keep shooting down aircraft and the IJA/IJN aircraft keep coming no matter how many I shoot down. Thoughts?

_____________________________

Laughter and tears are both responses to frustration and exhaustion. I myself prefer to laugh, since there is less cleaning up to do afterward. - Kurt Vonnegut

No sign of the KB today, but probably still close by. Lots of enemy activity, so I'm not chancing sending in supply by ship.

Hummmm, sometimes, when I really need/want to know where KB or a substantial part of it is, I find an electronic pawn sacrifice useful. The pawn usually takes the form of a trio of AMs or similar light craft of which the Allies have a surfit or a pair of AKLs that load supplies and go straight to a place like Tarawa. If they get thru all the better. If large enemy fleet or CV elements sink them, then the loss is far outweighed by the intel. It is something seldom done by real western admirals for obvious reasons, but in wars of electron units, it is a quite useful tactic.

The poison pawn variant takes the exact same form, except all six US CVs and maybe the Br CVs trail along behind the sacrifical lamb plotting an ambush. When one learns that KB is split, the poison variant is definiely in play. This is particularly useful against a very aggressive opponent.

Of course your CVs are not positioned to play the poison variant at Tarawa, but it might be worthwhile to at least play the pawn sacrifice to draw out his CVs in the area. Like you said, when there are CVs in the Gilberts, they cannot be where you're up to actual mischief. Knowing which ones are in the Gilberts is significant a leg up. If nothing happens, Tarawa might get resupplied.

Water as an issue in Tennessee and Georgia....come to Texas. Riparian (spelled right?) rights here can lead to gunplay and mayhem. It will likely become a leading national issue before much longer.